MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — A float decorated with American flags and
carrying wounded veterans and their spouses to a banquet in West Texas took the
full force of a train at a railroad crossing, killing at least four people and
injuring 16.

Some managed to jump clear as the train bore down Thursday
afternoon, blasting its horn. Horrified spectators at the parade to honor the
war heroes could only watch as the carnage unfolded.

“The train honked its horn, but the 18-wheeler could not go
anywhere because of the other one (truck) being right in front of it,” said
Daniel Quinonez, who was waiting in his vehicle as the parade went by. “It was a
horrible accident to watch happen right in front of me. I just saw the people on
the semi-truck’s trailer panic, and many started to jump off the trailer. But it
was too late for many of them.”

The float was one of two flatbed tractor-trailers carrying
veterans and their spouses. Police said the first truck safely crossed the
tracks but that the second truck’s trailer was still on the crossing as the
train approached.

Patricia Howle was waiting in her car at a nearby traffic light
as the train approached.

“I just started screaming,” she said. “The truck was on the other
side of the train, but I did see the panic on the faces of the people and saw
some of them jump off.”

Deborah Hersman, NTSB chairwoman, said Friday on NBC’s “Today”
show that the train was equipped with a forward-facing camera whose footage
could help in the investigation.

“That will give us some video images if it survived the crash and
we can download it, as well as recorders on the train,” Hersman said. “We’re
going to be looking at the signals … and making sure that the gates and lights
were coming down.”

Late Thursday, Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange said a
preliminary investigation indicated the crossing gate and lights were working.
He did not know if the train crew saw the float. The black box from the train
will determine its speed at the time of impact.

Two died at the scene and another two at Midland Memorial
Hospital, city spokesman Ryan Stout said. Marcy Madrid, a spokeswoman at the
hospital, said one person hurt in the crash was in critical condition and four
were in stable condition early Friday. She said 10 people were treated and
released and that one woman was transferred to a hospital in Lubbock. Madrid
said reports Thursday that 17 people had been injured in the crash were
incorrect.

Investigators in reflective vests and hard hats remained
overnight at the floodlit crash scene that was cordoned off with yellow tape.
Federal investigators were expected at the scene Friday.

The parade had been scheduled to end at a “Hunt for Heroes”
banquet honoring the veterans. The wounded service members were then going to be
treated to a deer-hunting trip at the weekend. The events were canceled.

The events were organized by Show Of Support, a local veterans
group. Its president, Terry Johnson, did not immediately return an email for
comment and his phone number was unlisted; the phone rang unanswered at the
group’s offices.

Stout, also the police department’s spokesman, said he had no
information about the individuals who died or the driver of the truck.

Lange said Union Pacific is offering help to the community and
victims’ families, as well as peer-to-peer counseling for the train crew, who
did not sustain any injuries.

“There is going to be a very thorough investigation,” Lange said.
“It’s obviously a very tragic incident.”

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta “was deeply saddened by news of
the tragic accident involving veterans heroes and their spouses in Midland,”
Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. “His thoughts and prayers
are with the families of the victims, with those injured in this incident, and
with the entire community.”

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